When the South Bronx was left to burn.

A documentary in progress by Vivian Vazquez, Gretchen Hildebran and Julia Steele Allen.

In the 1970s, Vivian Vazquez was growing up in a close-knit South Bronx neighborhood. But by the end of the decade, a relentless plague of fires had destroyed her community. Decade Of Fire documents Vivian’s search for answers: Why did the Bronx burn? Who let the fires burn for so long? And what happened to those who remained behind?

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We are in the process of collecting and logging a huge amount of archival footage to use in the film. To make this work we need Filemaker Pro database software – any chance anyone has a legal copy they could share with us?

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For the past several months, our team has been working to get all our footage and materials from the last three years into shape to tell the story of the fires. With the support of two generous donors, we have begun working with an editor on a full rough cut version of the film, to be completed by August 1st, 2014. It is an exciting moment for the project, and we are thrilled to be on the path to finishing and bringing this story to the world!

In order to finish the rough cut, we are raising an additional $30,000. Nearly one-third, $9,000 will fund a final two weeks of shooting, to capture the elements of the story we still need. The remaining $21,000 will pay for archival research, for an assistant editor to review and log a giant pile of archival video, and for our editor to complete the rough cut between now and August.

We are so excited that the edit is underway, and we are also immensely grateful to all the film’s supporters who have made it possible to get this far. But we aren’t there yet. Please help us complete the rough cut by next August!

Catch up on the status of the film and make your end of the year tax-deductible contribution by hitting the “donate” button on this site.